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The Life Choices Write Tag

I said I would do a new Write Tag this month and for once I am really keeping my promise! If you have missed previous installments of this very irregular feature, you can check out the posts for the Winter Is Here, Valentine’s Day and Milestones Write Tag by clicking on their titles. You are also more than welcome to join in if you haven’t yet! I have once again tried to steer clear of seasonal tags, because I want people to be able and do them whenever they feel like and am therefore happy to present the Life Choices Write Tag! It’s all about those little moments in life that define us and in this case hopefully our characters. Let’s get to know them better!

Once again, I will be doing this tag myself by answering the questions with my WIP (Work in Progress) Arcadia. While I have made some important decisions (like it is definitely going to be a duology and not a stand-alone), there’s still loads of work to do. The heat has made it a little tough to think straight, so I haven’t really been working on it. I am hoping this tag will motivate me again.

RULES

Thank the person who tagged you but also link back to the original post! (I want to see all your lovely answers, people!)

Provide a short description of your WIP/story!Kasia and Dyson have known each other their entire lives, their paths intertwining at every crossroad. So forgetting he ever existed doesn’t make any sense to Kasia and neither does finding out about the magical beings that took him away from her. Now, with the help of some allies with motives of their own, she will do everything she can to get him back, not knowing if either one of them will ever be the same after all is said and done.You can check out this post to find out more about Arcadia!

This is pretty focused on main characters but don’t hesitate to use several characters for the answers if you want to! (We want to get to know as many of your characters as possible)

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Where does your main character (MC) live? Were they born there or did they move to that place?

Kasia and Dyson moved to Vancouver together after they both finished university. Their families live in Ontario, but it’s not really an issue for them. First it’s not an insurmountable distance if you want to see them for holidays and second, they felt it was more important to start someplace new get trapped in their old routines after graduation.

Does your MC have a dream career? What (if anything) stops them from pursuing it?

Dyson’s greatest dream was to become a sort of mix between Indiana Jones and Noah Flynn from the Librarian movies. His knack for studying, but also outdoor adventure ultimately did lead to him becoming an archaeologist. The actual excavation sites are not nearly as exciting as the movies made them look, but he soon found himself gravitating towards teaching and jobs at museums anyway. (So, in short, he pursued his dream career and ended up loving it!)

Did any of your characters ever go against their parents/family’s wishes? How did that change their relationship?

Well, Dyson did when he didn’t find a “reasonable” job in his family’s eyes. They came around eventually and never truly held it against him, especially since Kasia went the more sensible route and became an accountant. That way not both of them had precarious jobs, but it still elicits the occasional eye roll at family gatherings.

If faced with their greatest fear – would your MC try to overcome it or run the other way?

Kasia’s greatest fear (aside from loosing Dyson) are heights, which I can very much relate to. As long as someone (again, preferable Dyson) is there to hold her hand though, she’ll at least always try.

Did any character have to cut a person out of their life? Why?

If I may refer everyone to chapter 9 of Arcadia … I don’t even feel like I should talk about this again. I’ve made a lot of people sad with that one. (Click here to read Arcadia if you haven’t yet, but want to.)

What is your main character’s biggest regret?

I shared an aesthetic the last time, of a little road trip (that probably won’t make it into the book) and I think there is a certain kind of regret involved with not actually going through with it, especially since it’s so uncertain if they will be able to now.

Which character is most likely going to help a stranger, even if they got nothing out of it in return?

This is someone a lot of you don’t know at all or at least not very well yet, but Casper would be my answer. I wanted to say Findlay at first, but I want to give some recognition to Casper too. He has a hard shell but a soft inside. He would never get a “most friendly” award, but if someone actually needed help, I don’t doubt that he would show up.

If your character got good/bad news, who would be the person they first tell?

Kasia and Dyson would call each other and after that Robyn. Georgie would call Fin, although I am not 100% sure he would call her first in return. I am really looking forward to figuring out who Leo would call. Haven’t found an answer yet though.

BONUS: Make an aesthetic for your MCs life if there had been no obstacles (money, geographical, etc.) and they had everything they wanted. (It is up to you if you want to explain it or not!)

I am going to leave this open for interpretation for now, but give me your best guess in the comments!

Hello Kat!
Yay another write tag! This one looks like fun and I look forward to doing it. I need a dose of inspiration for my writing these days so this might be helpful for me 🙂
I enjoyed reading your answers here. It is interesting to get to know Kasia and Dyson on a deeper level 🙂 I am pleasantly surprised to know that Kasia and Dyson were originally from Ontario before moving to Vancouver (just like me!)
Thanks for making this tag Kat ❤

Hey Sophie! I am always happy to help with motivational boosts when I am able to 😀 are you going to do the tag for your new WIP?
I was initially going to have them live in Toronto, but I just know Vancouver way better and thought it would make more sense. I have a couple friends who changed coasts in Canada though haha so I felt it wasn’t too much of a stretch 🙂

It makes sense to write about a setting you are more familiar with 🙂 My previous and current WIPs have all taken place in Toronto but I want to write about Vancouver in the future! What other settings do you like writing in?
Yes I definitely want to do this tag for my new WIP 🙂

I really like to set things in Oregon or Washington State, again for the simple reason that it is familiar to me. I spent my exchange semester as a teen in Oregon and that was just kind of the world I lived in for a long time. I have struggled to write anything set in Vienna though, just because I can’t seem to figure out how to integrate language. I only write in English and it would feel odd to me to have a book in a German speaking country but not write it in German. I always wanted to write a book from the POV of an exchange student though, so I might do that at some point. I have like 3 other projects before that though.

It definitely helps to be familiar with a city while writing about it. Sounds like it would be fun for you to write about an exchange student experience, since you’ve done that yourself 🙂
I think it is possible to write a book that takes place in a different country (for example Daughter of Smoke and Bone which takes place in Prague!) though I think it would take some skill to convey the culture and the language in English 🙂

Thanks! I had no idea you started reading it (or did? I am not sure you mentioned it before …)!? Some of the things I mention do appear in the book at some point, others are just background story I figured out for myself.

Well, I haven’t mentioned it because I have only read a couple of chapters (wattpad not really my cup of tea) and I wanted to have progressed a bit before telling you. I love a solid background even if it doesn’t appear in the novel.

Yay I love these tags so much, and thanks for tagging me as well Kat (I am aware I have a backlog of them I need to take part in, but maybe I’ll just binge post them, all three one after the other!)
I think this is a great idea for a topic as well, and it’s definitely going to make me think really hard about my answers, which I guess is the point to learn more about your characters right? Also I loved reading your answers; I relate to Kasia’s fear of heights too, and your aesthetics are gorgeous!
Great post, and again thanks for the tag! 🙂 ❤️

While I would obviously love to read all the posts about your WIP, please don’t feel any sort of pressure! I just try to tag as many people as I can so that the tag spreads haha and I don’t know THAT many writerly bloggers as the list doesn’t grow exponentially.
Yeah, it’s sort of the point to have the questions challenge you. A lot of people disregard questions that won’t be relevant to the actual story of the book, but I like to think that it doesn’t hurt knowing everything about your character, even beyond the scope of the what’s going to be written.

Don’t worry, definitely no pressure. I’ve already drafted the first two and they’re ready to post I’m just waiting for the right time! 🙂 I don’t know that many writer bloggers either, but I know there are probably loads out there.
Well that’s the thing if you asked me questions relevant to my plot I could answer them in a second, but these I’ll need to think about and it gives me more insight into my characters which is never a bad thing. 🙂 ❤️

KAT! I already told you so, but I am so happy you did this new write tag and I can’t wait to draft my answers, though I feel like some of these will be hard to answer haha. I’m sad that road trip idea won’t make it into the book, I’m going to need a short story or novella about that because I KNOW, with that aesthetic, I will want and NEED to read it haha ❤ ❤ Your bonus aesthetic is so pretty and makes me so happy for some reason, too, haha ❤ ❤ I love this so much. Thank you for tagging me. I can't wait to read more of Arcadia! ❤

Thank you so much, Marie! ❤ Whenever I post one of these tags, I am just so afraid no one will take part haha
And I think the engagement story would be perfect as a novella. I thought about making it a flashback, but it's too long and I don't want to rush that bit.
The bonus aesthetic is SUPPOSED to make you happy, so that's a full on success for me hahaha ❤

Ahhh I LOVE your writing tags and reading more about Arcadia 🙂 Also, your aesthetics are gorgeous and they get me so curious trying to interpret them! I hope the tag helped your motivation, I know it’ll be helping mine tons! Kasia and Dyson sound so tight and unbreakable and I love it!

Thank you so much for Tagging me! I’m so excited for another Write Tag and this one has a lot of great questions I cannot wait to answer 😍 But first I gotta do your previous Tag, which fits perfectly, as I really need to get back to working on my WIP 😅

Ahhhh yes you made another great writing tag!! I loved reading all your answers and getting to know your characters better Kat. Can’t wait to continue reading Arcadia once things calm down a bit 🙂 Also thank you for the tag ❤

I am glad you like the tag! No stress at all about doing it yourself or continuing with Arcadia 😀 I have started working on a new witchy WIP in the meantime anyway, so new chapters will be slow to come by haha

Haha do you want to be added to the group who can read it on Google Docs? I am not making it entirely public yet and apparently I am plotting more this time around. It’s all a bit of a mess, but you are welcome to check it out and comment if you want to.

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